Sunday, April 16, 2017

Mohshin Habib : Islam and Anti-Semitism in Malaysia

Islam and Anti-Semitism in Malaysia

Wahhabi doctrines spread by
Saudi-financed imams are redefining the way Islam is practiced in
Malaysia. Politicians are now competing with each other to show off
their Islamist credentials. These practices are eroding the tolerance
for which the country was previously known.

Young Malaysians are being radicalized as a result of the
Islamism and anti-Semitism that their leaders espouse. According to
Malaysian police, there are at least 50,000 Islamic State sympathizers
in the country.

Recently, an influential opposition party introduced a bill that would implement harsher hudud laws (brutal physical punishments for transgressions like adultery and theft) in the state of Kelantan.

Malaysia, a majority-Muslim country in Southeast Asia, is rapidly
turning to Islamic fundamentalism through the state's sharia-like legal
system and the country's growing number of Islamic militant
sympathizers. Malaysia's government is a federal parliamentary democracy
under an elected constitutional monarchy. The country of more than 30
million people is made up of 13 states and three federal territories. It
is a multi-ethnic country: Malay Sunni Muslims make up 50.1% of the
population, Chinese people make up 23.6%, indigenous people 11.8% and
Indians 6.7 %. However, the Malaysian Constitution declares Islam alone
to be the official religion.

Malaysia is dominated by an iteration of Islamic culture that is
highly influenced by the Saudi Arabian version of Islam. The use of
political Islam has been a deliberate move by some Islamists in even the
highest levels of Malaysian government to create a sharia-based nation. According to the Wall Street Journal,
conservative Wahhabi doctrines spread by Saudi-financed imams are
redefining the way Islam is practiced in Malaysia, and politicians are
now competing with each other to show off their Islamist credentials.
These practices are eroding the tolerance for which the country was
previously known.

Recently, one of the influential opposition parties, the Pan
Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), introduced a bill that will be debated by
Parliament in October. The bill would implement harsher hudud laws
(brutal physical punishments for transgressions like adultery and
theft) in the north-eastern state of Kelantan. In 2015, The Kelantan
Assembly passed amendments to the Sharia Criminal Code, approving hudud
in the state. As a result, the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a
center-left, multi-racial political party, cut its ties with the PAS.

A Malaysian state mufti (religious representative), Dr. Abdul Rahman Osman, responded harshly to the DAP's action, calling DAP members kafir harbi -- non-believers deserving of the death penalty for their actions against Islam.
The provisions of the PAS' most recent bill that raised concerns for the DAP and its leaders are as follows:

Sections 8 and 9, which state that a woman who reports that she was raped will be charged with qazaf (slanderous accusations), and flogged 80 times if she fails to prove the crime;

Section 22, which calls for the death and confiscation of all properties of a person guilty of apostasy;

Section 43, which denies women and non-Muslims the right to be witnesses;

Section 48(2), which provides that an unmarried woman who is pregnant will be assumed to have committed zina (adultery) unless she proves otherwise.

While sharia law infiltrates Malaysian society, anti-Semitism among Malaysian politicians has also been on the rise.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera
on June 25, Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia,
was asked about some controversial statements he had made. In 2003, he
remarked that Jews ruled the world, and in 2012 he claimed that he would
be glad to be labelled as anti-Semitic. In the interview, Mr. Mohamad
said, "I believe I'm speaking the truth."

Mahathir
Mohamad served as Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003. In
2003, he remarked that Jews ruled the world, and in 2012, he claimed
that he would be glad to be labelled as anti-Semitic.

After Germany's soccer victory against Brazil in 2014, Bung Mokhtar Radin, a Member of Malaysian Parliament, tweeted,
"Well Done...Bravo... Long Live Hitler." Deputy Minister for Transport
Aziz Bin Kaprawi accused the DAP of being funded by Jews. When $700
million was transferred into Prime Minister Najib Razak's bank account
by the Saudi royal family just before an election, Kaprawi explained:

"If we had lost [the 2013 election], DAP would be in
power. DAP with its Jewish funding would control this country. Based on
that, our Muslim friends in the Middle East could see the Jewish threat
through DAP."

Young Malaysians are being radicalized as a result of the Islamism
and anti-Semitism that their leaders espouse. According to Malaysian
police, there are
at least 50,000 Islamic State sympathizers in the country, and dozens
of them have already been prosecuted. If politicians continue to bring
radical Islam, sharia law, and anti-Semitism to Malaysia, this trend
will only continue.
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